The 25-year-old Ljubljana native reached the podium with a strong performance in the final, climbing to 51+, the highest score achieved at that point in the competition. Belgian Heloise Doumont narrowly overtook her with 52 to take silver, while Britain’s Erin McNiece became European champion after reaching the top of the route.
The medal is Rakovec’s second at the European Championships. She previously won the European title in lead climbing in Edinburgh in 2019, when she was only 18 years old.
Her career was subsequently interrupted by a serious health battle. Rakovec was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and missed two full seasons while undergoing treatment and recovering from surgery. She returned to competitive climbing in 2025 and has since been gradually rebuilding her form.
Her comeback reached a new milestone in Laval. Rakovec qualified with the third-best score before finishing fourth in the semi-finals, where she reached hold 43+. She significantly improved in the final, climbing to 51+ and securing her place on the podium. Reflecting on the difficult years since her European title in 2019, she said the experience had been an “interesting journey”, but one she would not choose to repeat. She added that she was happy to have recovered and returned to the level she is at today, hoping that future podiums would come sooner than the seven-year gap between her two European Championship medals. Another Slovenian climber, Mia Krampl, finished fifth in the lead competition.
The European Championships in Laval featured the lead and speed disciplines, following the bouldering competition held in Barcelona in July. Slovenia’s biggest climbing star, Janja Garnbret, did not compete at this year’s European events, but the two-time Olympic champion is set to return to competition at the World Climbing Series in Koper on 4 and 5 September.
For Slovenian climbing, Rakovec’s bronze is particularly significant not only as another European medal, but as a reminder of her return to the sport’s highest level after an exceptionally difficult interruption to her career.
